A lost key and an accidental touch of cold hands in the dark – so begins one of the great romances of all opera. In his depiction of the tender and ultimately tragic love between Mimì and Rodolfo, Puccini achieved an immediacy, warmth and humanity that have rarely been equalled.

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A charming comic drama inspired by the true story of a high school English teacher who drove across Spain in 1966 to meet his idol John Lennon in hopes of clarifying some lyrics he couldn’t quite understand. On the way, he picks up two runaway teenagers — a pregnant girl fleeing a convent, and a boy escaping his dictatorial father.

“This small gem offers a lovely evocation of Spain as well as a touching tribute to an unforgettable moment in time when the Beatles seemed to offer brand new possibilities, the idea that strawberry fields might indeed go on forever.”Stephen Farber, Hollywood Reporter

Puccini’s first triumph returns to Covent Garden for the first time in 20 years in a new staging by Jonathan Kent. The exciting Latvian soprano Kristine Opolais sings the title role. A consummate Puccini soprano, Opolais caused a sensation as Madama Butterfly in 2011, and with Manon Lescaut, the bold but impressionable heroine, we will see a very different side of her. She is matched in star power by Jonas Kaufmann as her lover, Des Grieux, and Christopher Maltman as her cynical brother Lescaut. Kent’s vision of a young girl who faces temptation in the big city will surely resonate with today’s audience.

The charismatic Giuseppe Marinoni has been making some of the most desirable bicycle frames in Canada for decades. A competitive cyclist in Italy in his youth, he decides, at age 75, to attempt a World Record for distance cycled in one hour for his age group. Giuseppe’s determination and perseverance lead him back to his native Italy for his training and, ultimately, his attempt at the record. This is a film not only for the spandex-and-helmet crowd but for anyone who believes that a man’s reach should exceed his grasp.

Daniele Abbado explores themes of identity, exile and religion in a powerful staging of Verdi’s epic opera. War has broken out between the Babylonians and Israelites. The Israelites have captured Fenena, younger daughter of the Babylonian King, Nabucco. In revenge, Nabucco vows to destroy Jerusalem, aided by the vengeful Abigaille.

“Domingo’s career, 42 years at Covent Garden and counting, continues to be a wonder of the age.” The Guardian

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"TV news reporter Dean Miller waits at the airport for the arrival of a scientist that he is about to interview. There, an unmarked military plane makes an emergency landing. The plane doors open and dozens of zombies burst out stabbing and shooting military waiting outside. Miller tries to let the people know of this event, but General Murchison of Civil Defense will not allow it. Then, Miller tries to find his wife and escape from the blood-thirsty zombies that are all over the city."

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"A worm-like parasite named Aylmer latches into Brian’s (Rock Herbst) neck and offers to inject his brain with a hallucinogenic fluid, giving him pleasurable psychedelic experiences. But the catch is, to keep the “high”, Brian has to feed Aylmer his favorite food… human brains! Directed by Frank Henenlotter (Basket Case, Frankenhooker), this amazing cult film favorite will have you screaming with laughter as you reach for your barf bag."

Brain Damage will screen on a very rare uncut 35mm print at the Northwest Horror Show.

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"Banned and heavily censored throughout the world, here is a film that surpasses its reputation as a shotgun blast to the senses. Cannibal Holocaust presents the ‘found footage’ of four documentary filmmakers who experience brutal death at the hands of a savage South American tribe of flesh-eaters. The footage is so intense so graphic and so unflinching in its realism that the director and producer of Cannibal Holocaust were arrested on its original release and the film was seized.

Predating The Blair Witch Project in its use of ‘found footage’, Cannibal Holocaust also served as a key inspiration for Eli Roth’s The Green Inferno. Be forewarned: This is the one that goes ALL THE WAY!"

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"You’re either in or you’re in the way!" The Northwest Horror Show is proud to present the Vancouver premiere of Duke Mitchell’s long lost follow up to Massacre Mafia Style to the big screen. The story follows a group of gangsters who plan to sail to Rome to kidnap the Pope and hold him ransom for a dollar from every Catholic in the world.

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“Italian-American actor and nightclub singer Duke Mitchell wrote, produced, directed and starred in this homemade answer to The Godfather, self-financed with earnings from his career as the self-proclaimed “Mr. Palm Springs.” Previously known for his Martin and Lewis act with Sammy Petrillo as seen in Bela Lugosi Meets a Brooklyn Gorilla, Duke plays the ruthless son of a Mafia kingpin who blasts his way through Hollywood on a bloody crime spree. Promising “more guts, more action, more dynamite” than the Mario Puzo

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"A psychopathic killer stalks a Boston campus, brutally slaughtering nubile young college co-eds, collecting body parts from each victim to create the likeness of his mother who he savagely murdered with an axe when he was ten years old!

Pieces is a wild, unrated gorefest, with enough splatter and sleaze to shock the most jaded horror fan."

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"From legendary Italian horror master Lucio Fulci comes the ultimate classic of supernatural terror. A remote and cursed hotel, built over one of the seven gateways, becomes a yawning malevolent abyss that begins devouring both the bodies and the souls of all who enter in a graphic frenzy of gory crucifictions, chunkblowing chain-whippings, eyeball impalements, sulphuric acid meltdowns, flesh-eating tarantulas, throat-shredding demon dogs and ravenous bloodthirsty zombies. The Beyond is a towering achievement in hair-raising, mind-bending cinematic terror!"

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“When Oscar-winning editor Bob Murawski and his team at Grindhouse Releasing ask if you want to see a custom-curated, all-35mm collection of the rarest vintage trailers on planet Earth, you say "YES".

Prepare for a feature-length onslaught of the wildest, weirdest and most actionpacked face-rippers to have ever (dis)graced drive-in screens — all culled from GR’s vast archive of golden-age exploitation. Blaxploitation, sexploitation, horror, mondo, martial arts and more mix with mutant subgenres, freakish fiascos and other brain-bludgeoning, eye-blasting two-minute masterpieces not seen since the flea-ridden heydays of 42nd St."

In the first of our series bringing you opera productions from London’s Royal Opera House, a chance to enjoy the company’s new staging of Richard Wagner’s epic, his final masterpiece. A young man ignorant of everything, including his own name, arrives at the Kingdom of the Holy Grail. Is he the ‘pure fool, enlightened by compassion’, who, it has been prophesied, will purify the kingdom?

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Given their almost mythical abilities to swim upstream and overcome unthinkable obstacles in order to perpetuate their species, wild salmon seem unlikely symbols of fragility. However, by weaving together interviews, archival photos and underwater footage, Pacific Northwest filmmaker Mark Titus spins a damning tale of human stupidity, selective memory and a looming ecological crisis so dire that viewers will be left praying that it’s all just a fish story.

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British Columbia’s marine ecosystem has collapsed. Fish farms were seen as a way to offset growing pressure on declining wild stocks, but one woman, marine biologist Alexandra Morton, noticed that diseases coming from fish farms were killing wild salmon. In this revealing documentary, filmmaker Scott Renyard links the crash of many fish species on Canada’s west coast to diseases spread from fish farms and shows how the loss in marine fish biomass has global implications.

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Wrenched reveals how author Edward Abbey’s anarchistic spirit and riotous novels influenced the nascent environmental movement of the 1970s and ‘80s. Through interviews, archival footage and re-enactments, director ML Lincoln captures the outrage of Abbey’s friends who were the original eco-warriors. With tree-spiking, forest occupation and high-profile publicity stunts such as the cracking at Glen Canyon Dam, this group became the eventual target of FBI infiltrators, leading to the arrest of various members.

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Imagine spending years in prison without being charged with a crime or knowing exactly what you’re accused of. A film about the human impact of the “War on Terror,” The Secret Trial 5 is a sobering examination of the Canadian government’s use of security certificates, a Kafkaesque tool that allows for indefinite detention without charges, based on evidence not revealed to the accused or their lawyers. Over the last decade, this rare and highly controversial device has been used to detain five men for nearly 30 years combined. To date, none has been charged with a crime or seen the evidence against them. Through the experience of the detainees and their families, the film raises poignant questions about the balance between security and liberty.

"Troubling and compelling ... As Canadians, we’re used to looking elsewhere in the world and shuddering at the lack of due process and respect for human rights. This film is bound to shake many of us out of that sense of smug complacency." — Bruce DeMara, The Star

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Ana Valine’s darkly comic drama centres on mother/daughter con artists who just can’t catch a break. Seen through the eyes of 16-year-old Sammie (Paloma Kwiatkowski)—who lives with her pill-popping, alcoholic mom Marlene (Suzanne Clément)—this bittersweet journey leads us through dysfunction, love and addiction, before culminating with an unusual deliverance for this compelling pair. Winner, Best Director, Leo Awards 2014.